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It would be beneficial to be able to search in multiple editor windows at the same time (whether for the same pattern, or possibly different - as you see fit; currently it enforces the same pattern), and to have the found terms highlighted in each window (where I used Find feature) at the same time. Basically, I'd like the 'Find' minidialog (at the bottom of the source edit window) and the highlighting to stay active, even if I switch the focus/input to a different docked or floating window. I think that would increase user's navigation in source code, especially when looking at occurrences of functions/variables/symbols used in - two or several files, or - two or more locations in the same long file (the same file open in two windows) This may look as opposite to https://netbeans.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=142106, but it's not fully the opposite.
This old bug may not be relevant anymore. If you can still reproduce it in 8.2 development builds please reopen this issue. Thanks for your cooperation, NetBeans IDE 8.2 Release Boss